At the scene

Will VernonBBC News, Mariupol

At the Primorsky polling station in Mariupol, a large crowd is gathered outside, waiting to vote. There is a crush of people inside.

Organisation is chaotic at best. There are no polling booths: people vote at the registration desks. People's details are hastily scribbled on generic forms. There is also a collection for money towards funding the Donetsk People's Republic.

The chairman of this polling station, Sergei Babin, said that people from other regions are permitted to vote here. He said their details would be taken down, and then, to ensure they haven't voted elsewhere, "the lists from different polling stations would be checked against each other".

Asked how long such a mammoth task would take, he replied "one day."

A Donetsk separatist leader, Denis Pushilin, told one Russian news agency that once the results are announced, all Ukrainian military troops in the region would be considered "occupying forces".

'Abyss'

The shooting incident, in which separatist officials said at least one person had been killed, took place in Krasnoarmiisk, west of Donetsk city, after armed men supporting the Kiev government closed down a polling station.

A photographer with AP news agency reported seeing two people lying motionless on the ground.

A few hours before polling was due to close, separatist officials claimed turnout in Donetsk region had been close to 70% - but there was no independent confirmation. In other developments:

An official at a Sloviansk polling station told the BBC voting was going well. Pro-Russia militiamen in fatigues and balaclavas were voting alongside grandmothers

But one pro-Ukraine teacher said she received death threats after refusing to let rebels use her school as a polling station

In Donetsk, the BBC's Piers Schofield says the process appears haphazard. Although there are voters' lists in polling stations, one can vote at any station

BBC reporters say only a handful of polling stations are serving Mariupol, a city of half a million.

Some polling stations, like this one in Mariupol, have seen long queues

BBC links

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